Thoughts on Kadal

So, Kadal was watched. Here are some thoughts. Spoilers Ahead!!!

• Liked the movie. Mani is back after the disastrous Ravanan. Typical Mani movie with characters who are neither totally white nor totally black. (Though Arjun's character seems to be a full blown villain, Mani provides a final twist where it seems he has a little bit of humanity left in him)
• Mani always seems to work with good writers. First Sujatha, now Jeyamohan. You can see the difference between the movies where he has collaborated with other writers and the ones which he has written himself. You can see the subtle influences in the screenplay. Ex : Sujatha's touch in Ayutha Ezhuthu, Kannathil Muthamittal.
• The character development could have been done much better. This was one of the issues I had with Thalapathi as well. The grounds on which Mamooty and Rajini become such good friends was never adequately explained (IMO). Here, the friendship and the reason for the fall-out between Arvind Swamy and Arjun is sloppily handled. Maybe he could have done away with the totally unnecessary and bizzarely shot Adiye (Totally love the song btw) and put in a few more scenes in the seminary.
• There are lots of subtle references to the theme of the scene and movie as a whole through the use of props, character names, costumes, etc. When Arjun goes to visit Arvind Swamy in jail, he wears all black and Aravind swamy is wearing jail all whites. Good vs Evil. Black vs White. Another example is the heroine's name. Beatrice. In Dante's divine comedy, Beatrice guides Dante through heaven. Kind of what the heroine does in the movie. The heroine is almost wholly dressed in white. Again alluding to the fact that she is an angel-like figure. Well played.
• Gautam Karthik is pretty good. But I would say this is more of a Arjun and Aravind Swamy movie. Arjun is great as the villain and Arvind Swamy puts in a good performance as the idealistic priest. Thulasi just smiles and smiles like there is no tomorrow. Not at all surprised Samantha said no to the role. :P Probably Mani's worst written female character. Slightly surprising because all his female leads have always had very well written roles.